Just days after The Mummy 4 set photos revealed Rachel Weisz as Evelyn O'Connell, we now have the first confirmed images of Brendan Fraser reprising his iconic role as Rick O'Connell.

Page Six published photos of the 57-year-old Fraser filming at a former military base in Suffolk, England. In the images, we can see Fraser wearing a black leather jacket and pants, and donning a helmet while driving a silver-and-red rocket car.

Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz seen for the first time on ‘The Mummy 4’ set https://t.co/lZ2noYTBRO pic.twitter.com/rhyOJeHDkH

— Page Six (@PageSix) September 28, 2026

As with the Weisz photos, these Fraser photos suggest a 1950s post-war Britain setting, at least for early scenes. According to Page Six, Fraser was snapped filming a record-speed trials scene. Perhaps this is what we find him up to before he goes on some grand adventure.

The 56-year-old Weisz was spotted in costume as librarian, Egyptologist, and action heroine Evelyn O'Connell filming scenes outside the British Museum, which will reportedly appear early in the movie. The Mummy is set in 1926, The Mummy Returns in 1933, and Tomb of the Dragon Emperor in 1946, so the 1950s for The Mummy 4 would make sense.

Weisz stars in the new The Mummy alongside Fraser nearly 20 years after the last The Mummy movie, 2008’s Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, came out. Weisz didn't appear in that divisive third entry (Maria Bello played the character instead). In March, The Mummy 4 director duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett suggested Tomb of the Dragon isn't considered canon.

Last year, Fraser pointed to the power of stunt men ahead of filming. The actor sustained multiple injuries during production on The Mummy movies, including a torn spinal disc and a cracked rib, which led to numerous surgeries over several years. This took a significant toll on his health, and played a part in Fraser taking a break from his movie career.

Meanwhile, John Hannah will reprise his role as Jonathan Carnahan, the unscrupulous brother of Evelyn O'Connell. Hannah appeared in the first three Mummy movies. Elsewhere Oded Fehr returns as Ardeth Bay.

There’s still much we don’t know about The Mummy 4 — even its final title is unannounced. Last November, Fraser told the Associated Press he’d been waiting 20 years for the call to make another The Mummy, adding: “It’s time to give the fans what they want.”

The Mummy 4 hits theaters October 15, 2027.

Rebel Moon 3 looks like it’s stuck in a galaxy far far away after creator and director Zack Snyder issued a pessimistic update about the sequel’s chances.

Snyder’s flashy Rebel Moon franchise for Netflix was meant to usher in a new Star Wars-style universe, but both 2023’s Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire and its follow-up, 2024’s Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, were savaged by critics. Even the release of extended R-rated versions, which Snyder had said were more closely aligned with his vision, failed to move the needle.

Speaking to The Direct in a new interview to promote his new movie, The Last Photograph, Snyder gave a hesitant answer that suggested the existing Rebel Moon movies would need to gather significant support for a third movie to become a reality.

“I don't know,” he began. “... I made the director's cuts of the movies, and I just think it's like one of those things where… and I do feel that as those maybe get a little bit more popular and sort of like get discovered and there's a little bit more groundswell about maybe making another one.”

To me this is dancing around the true answer, which is no, Rebel Moon 3 is not in the works and probably won’t ever be. Snyder is striking a different tone to the one he had a year ago, when he told Variety he was waiting for the dust to settle before deciding how to proceed with Rebel Moon.

“I got sidetracked into this — not sidetracked, it’s all uptown problems, as they say — for Netflix, I’m working on an LAPD SWAT movie,” Snyder said. “So I was like, OK, well, I’m gonna just sort of let that ‘Rebel Moon’ world boil for a minute, and I’m gonna go do this. And frankly, it was a very exhausting, long process doing the two movies together. So it was nice to have a bit of a break from it. I love it like crazy, but it’s nice to have a bit of a break. So yeah, we’ll see after I finish this, when I come back, where we are with everything.”

“There’s tons of stories,” he continued. So, I mean, I think it’s literally, it’s endless. But, again, like I say, I’m waiting to see how we want to and in what way we would move forward, if at all.”

Last year, Rebel Moon’s co-writer Kurt Johnstad told the Minutemen Podcast: “We outlined movies 3, 4, 5, and 6. Those decisions are way above me, like how those things are made and where the money is gonna come from. I hope we get a chance to tell that story to its very end because it’s an amazing world, and I loved writing those characters — Kora and Jimmy, it’s just fantastic.

“We know where we can go, and we have very detailed outlines. Zack has literally plotted out the whole world. So with some luck and an act of god we’ll get to go back to that world.”

It sounds like Snyder will indeed need a miracle to keep Rebel Moon going.

A version of Avengers: Endgame featured another hero making the Soul Stone sacrifice, until writer Stephen McFeely was convinced against this by female Marvel colleagues.

Warning! Spoilers for Avengers: Endgame follow...

Endgame features the sad death of founding Avenger Natasha Romanov, AKA Black Widow, who makes the ultimate sacrifice to ensure Hawkeye obtains the Soul Stone. But the movie's co-writer has admitted hesitating over killing Scarlett Johansson's character, with Hawkeye briefly in the frame to die instead.

During a post-Avengers: Endgame Encore screening Q&A in Minnesota this past weekend (thanks, Forbes), Avengers scribe Stephen McFeely said he had tried writing a draft of this sequence where Hawkeye perished — only for this version to be met with resistance from multiple women on the Marvel team.

"There was a sense of dread over the decision," McFeely began, discussing the early realization that Endgame's return to Vormir would mean a big death was necessary. "In the design, we needed to make sure that two people who loved each other went, and [Black Widow and Hawkeye] were the obvious pairing," he continued. "So, even though it's a platonic relationship, they've been together as a duo in the Avengers the whole time.”

"In our mind, it was always going to be [Black Widow who died] because she was, I would argue, the greater hero in some ways, but selfishly — just as part of what my job is — I want to make you feel the worst you can feel."

Narratively, Black Widow's death makes more sense to complete her character arc and remove the "red in her ledger." And while Hawkeye had spent the past few years post-Snap as a brutal assassin, he does have a wife and kids to go home to if Thanos' decision is undone. Meanwhile, in sacrificing herself, Black Widow is protecting her own found family.

"When she found the Avengers, they were a new family for her," McFeely continued. "So, this idea that she could save her family, in the greater sense of that, was really important."

Still, there was some hesitation of killing off Black Widow, as one of the few prominent female Avengers. Perhaps surprisingly, however, McFeely's colleagues encouraged the decision.

"Because it's not a small thing to kill off a principal female character in the MCU, we tried a version of Hawkeye [dying] and a number of the female employees at Marvel, when they read [the script], grabbed me in the hallway and said, 'Don't you do this to her. Don't you take her heroic moment and give it to him. And I said, 'Oh, that's a really good point.'"

While many fans believe her death to be a strong end for her decade-long character arc, some have argued that Endgame should have spent longer mourning her. (This is a view I personally agree with, especially as we spend time at Tony's funeral later on.) Responding to this fan complaint, McFeely argued that he had tried to reference her as much as possible later in the film, though there was simply a lot still left to get done.

"The sacrifice is at the end of act two, which meant there was a lot of movie left," McFeely concluded. "There was not that much time to mourn Natasha because we got to snap everybody back and Thanos has to bomb us, and the Avengers have to fight their biggest fight in the MCU and Captain America has to wield Thor's hammer... we had a lot to do. We were mentioning her all over the ending of the movie, where Hulk says, 'I tried to bring her back,' and Hawkeye is lamenting her loss with the Scarlet Witch. It was about the best we could have done, given there was another character that was going to sacrifice himself."

Avengers: Endgame is back in theaters now via its Encore re-release which has up to four extra scenes tacked onto the end, preparing you for Avengers: Doomsday.

Predator fans were left wondering what’s next from the franchise after director Dan Trachtenberg was confirmed to be taking on a new movie inspired by Sleeping Beauty.

Trachtenberg, who is credited with successfully reviving the Predator franchise with the superb Prey in 2022, the well-received animated movie Predator: Killer of Killers, and last year’s Predator: Badlands, is in early development on a Sleeping Beauty-inspired movie for Disney that will take the classic story in a new direction, Deadline said. He’s also reportedly in pre-production on a secret new movie for Paramount. Neither movie has a timeline for release.

Where does this leave Predator? Killer of Killers and Badlands both left the door open to sequels. Indeed, Badlands set up a follow-up with a cliffhanger that got fans speculating about what might happen next. And let’s not forget the extended cut of Killer of Killers features Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character Dutch and Danny Glover’s character Mike Harrigan on ice, waiting to be warmed up for some future Predator movie or TV series.

The PG-13 Badlands is officially the highest-grossing Predator movie of all-time, not accounting for inflation, earning $183 million worldwide. But one of the lingering questions following the movie’s theatrical release was whether it had done enough business at the box office to convince Disney to invest in a sequel.

After Badlands failed to cross the $200 million mark, and factoring in production and marketing costs as well as the cut of revenue theaters take from ticket sales, a Badlands sequel always felt like it was on a knife edge. Check out IGN’s Predator: Badlands Ending Explained to find out what’s next for the series, assuming Trachtenberg gets to continue making Predator movies.

Predator began with 1987’s much-loved Predator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Badlands is a very different film; less sci-fi horror, more mainstream sci-fi action. For the first time ever the Predator is the protagonist, with a Yautja called Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) out to prove himself to his father by killing a monster on a death planet. Along the way, he meets a Weyland-Yutani synth called Thia, played by Elle Fanning, in an Alien / Predator crossover.

Ahead of Badlands' release, Trachtenberg said it was his intention that each of his Predator movies was “a complete thought,” having learnt a valuable lesson from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“It can all go out the door once we start putting pen to paper on stuff, but I’ve looked as far as I could to feel comfortable about what I’m doing,” Trachtenberg told Variety. “Every movie is a complete thought, not that much unlike the early Marvel stuff before the first Avengers movie, where it’s like, those are great movies, and lo and behold, we’re actually setting up that things could come together in a delicious way. But they weren’t like, ‘See how everything’s interconnected like crazy all of a sudden!’ So I’m trying to learn that lesson and make sure that any of these movies that we do are awesome ideas for movies on their own.”

Variety then pressed Trachtenberg on the possible of tying all his threads together to form an Avengers-style payoff, since be brought the movie up. “It’s hard,” he responded. “It’s fun to geek out and think, ‘Oh my god, wouldn’t it be cool if…,’ even on a movie that you’d never expect that to happen in. But it’s only cool if the journey there is equally worth taking.”

In March, the 79-year-old Schwarzenegger said 20th Century Studios was developing Conan 3, Commando 2, and a new Predator movie, with an eye for him to star in all three. The actor revealed he'd been in talks with Trachtenberg about reprising the role of Dutch from 1987's Predator, but we haven’t heard anything since.

X-Men star Alan Cumming has admitted he "didn't fully understand" the plot of Avengers: Doomsday while filming his scenes — one of which involved getting close to Florence Pugh's Black Widow.

If this latest tidbit from the Traitors host sounds familiar, it's because Cumming has leaked snippets about his time on Marvel's set previously — lamenting that his returning character Nightcrawler was filmed mostly against blue screen, and noting that he had got to fight Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards.

Now, Cumming has told SiriusXM (via Variety) that he did have bits of Doomsday's story explained to him — only for him to respond that he didn't really need to know the plot as he was simply there to "run around."

Cumming also revealed that he had to, at one point, lie on top of Florence Pugh's Black Widow character — even though it was her stunt double that he actually laid upon.

"There was a bit when we were shooting a scene, and it was one of the rare scenes when I was actually on the backlot and not in front of a blue screen," Cumming began. "And this man came and said, 'So right now Alan, these giant robots are blah blah,' and started to tell me the thing, and I was like, 'You know what, thank you so much, but just tell me where I point my, whatever I point. And I'll do that. Really, I just know I'm here to run around'."

The "giant robots" that Cumming refers to are undoubtedly the Sentinels we see Doctor Doom bringing to life in Doomsday's recent trailer, which seem to be the Avengers' first fight alongside the X-Men, and Doom's first big showdown with our heroes. How long does Nightcrawler survive? Cumming has not discussed being in any other part of the movie so far, but perhaps he knows to keep quiet about anything particularly spoilery? Or, perhaps not.

Avengers: Doomsday will see the return of numerous X-Men actors from 20th Century Fox's older mutant movies. Cumming is expected to share screen time with Patrick Stewart's Professor X, Kelsey Grammer's Beast, James Marsden's Cyclops, Rebecca Romijn's Mystique, Ian McKellen's Magneto — and potentially other cast members that Cumming is yet to tease.

Following the events of Avengers: Doomsday and the subsequent Avengers: Secret Wars, Marvel boss Kevin Feige has said that a semi-rebooted timeline will see a new, younger X-Men team come to the fore, in a fresh X-Men movie set to be directed by Thunderbolts*/The New Avengers' Jake Schreier, and starring Sadie Sink's newly-introduced Jean Grey.

"I saw Florence Pugh yesterday at the Emmys," Cumming continued. "And I said, 'Gosh, it's so funny. I've never met you, but you lay on top of me, or your body double did.' And she goes, 'Yeah I lay on top of you as well, but it was your body double.'"

Presumably this is part of the same Sentinels fight scene, and both Pugh and Cumming end up taking shelter together, rather than anything more salacious going on. But who knows! (Probably not Alan Cumming.) We'll just have to find out ourselves when Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters on December 18.

Image credit: Chloe Kern/WireImage.

Data shows that Zach Cregger’s film adaptation of Capcom’s flagship horror franchise was so successful, it boosted sales for copies of both Resident Evil 2 Remake and RE4’s 2023 remake on the PlayStation 5.

Cregger’s Resident Evil has enjoyed resounding success on all fronts; not only is it the single most-profitable Resident Evil movie ever made, it’s also helping sales for the games it’s based on.

Stats aggregated by Alinea Analytics show that the Resident Evil 2 Remake and Resident Evil 4 (2023) enjoyed a massive boost in the week after Cregger’s movie hit theaters. As told in a substack post written by Alinea Analytics’ Rhys Elliot, RE2 remake and RE 4 (2023) enjoyed a whopping 64% and 54% increase in PS5 sales, respectively. With Steam copies added to the mix, the games got bumped up by an additional 11% and 14%, respectively.

On PlayStation, this means the two games’ revenue increased by a jaw-dropping 80% and 84%, though it’s also worth noting that Capcom slashed prices for the games about 10 days before Cregger’s movie hit theaters.

Elliot points out that, while deep discounts made up for most of these impressive numbers beforehand, Austin Abrams’ deeply relatable performance as Bryan moved the needle quite a bit in the week afterwards, which also translated to increased player numbers.

Daily active users across several major Resident Evil titles increased after September 18, with RE2R having the largest surge at 48%, jumping from ~78K to ~116K daily players. This makes sense, given that Cregger’s film takes place parallel to the events of this particular game.

Resident Evil 4 (2023) players increased 24%, Resident Evil 3 Remake jumped up 25%, and Resident Evil Requiem saw a 20% increase in active players. Requiem also recently passed $500 million in total lifetime revenue, with a whopping 91% of sales for the game happening across PlayStation and Steam. In fact, this particular game drove PlayStation and PC sales in Japan within the first half of 2026, increasing by 13% to 21 million copies sold.

With the Code Veronica remake on the horizon, Resident Evil fans are getting fed by the Capgods, who have similarly enjoyed a wonderful year with three highly rated game releases. Onimusha: Way of the Sword was critically acclaimed upon launch, and Pragmata surprised critics and casual players alike with its innovative gameplay and tear-jerking story.

For more Resident Evil news, check out this viral behind-the-scenes footage of stunt performers who worked on Cregger’s film, showing how they brought its main stalker monster to life. You can also read our interview with Cregger here, where he admits that he was “naive” to think hardcore fans would be pleased with him avoiding a direct adaptation of the games — though those box office numbers seem to be telling a different story.

As Zach Cregger's Resident Evil movie spreads to theaters across the globe, one dedicated fan has managed to create a Resident Evil 2 mod featuring Austin Abrams' character, Bryan.

Considering the modding community's history with Capcom's legendary survival horror game franchise, a mod based on the new live-action adaptation felt inevitable. A little more than one week after the film's premiere, Nexus Mods user D0ct0rSauce has unveiled a Bryan skin, a mod that allows players to keep the unfortunate courier's horrific run through Raccoon City going in Resident Evil 2.

While Abrams is the one delivering Bryan's shrieks and screams throughout Resident Evil's hour-and-a-half runtime, this fan-made version of the character isn't quite as detailed. This is more like a PlayStation 1-inspired version of the character, breaking him down to just a few simple polygons as a replacement for Leon's retro skin. You can see gameplay footage of the mod, featuring art created by X/Twitter user @mindnumb_opus, below.

thanks to @mindnumb_opus ' excellent 3D artwork, i'm excited to reveal a mod we've developed that makes bryan from the new resident evil movie playable in resident evil 2 remake!#ResidentEvilㅤ #biohazard #bryanhodukavich #REBHFUN pic.twitter.com/VrOs4r6SqY

— dr. sauce (@realdoctorsauce) September 26, 2026

/ shitty gameplay. but check out bryan :D pic.twitter.com/SFkokWc0h2

— bryan resident evil (@thcourier) September 27, 2026

Resident Evil brought Bryan to theaters when it premiered September 18, 2026. Cregger's latest horror flick managed to exceed expectations with a $108 million global debut. It's an opening tally that earned its place as the biggest first weekend in franchise history just days after reviews cemented it as the highest-rated video game adaptation of all time.

The movie then continued its theatrical run in weekend two with an additional $50 million added to the pot. Its total now stands at more than $196.5 million, a number that far exceeds its reported budget of $75 million (via Variety).

IGN gave it an 8/10 review. We said, "With a laser focus on putting its hero through the worst night of his life, Resident Evil is a simple and exciting survival horror story that benefits greatly from director Zach Cregger’s sensibilities."

don’t look at me as I repost this for the third time, I’m so sorry— (2/2) pic.twitter.com/sAkxaveJKO

— Opus (@mindnumb_opus) September 11, 2026

Resident Evil 2 players on PC can imagine Abrams' Bryan surviving the game's take on the fall of Raccoon City thanks to D0ct0rSauce and @mindnumb_opus' work. While we wait to see what the modding community cooks up next, you can catch a glimpse of how Cregger used some creative tricks to bring the film's most wicked creation to life. You can also check out the Resident Evil Requiem mod that added Resident Evil 4's merchant to the game.

Backrooms director Kane Parsons says he’s always had a “main ending” in mind for his liminal space story, which he says would be best served as a limited series.

Parsons, while not the original creator of the viral 4Chan greentext post responsible for kicking off the Backrooms craze, is arguably its primary mouthpiece, having caught A24’s attention thanks to his wildly popular YouTube series exploring the concept.

Ever since he first shared his videos — which were almost entirely created in the 3D software Blender — he’s had an idea about how he wants his Backrooms saga to end, though it likely won’t be in theaters.

Speaking to Deadline, Parsons said there’s “always been a plan” for its ending, though it’s been challenging to “find the proper way to package that.”

“I never stop making things,” he told the outlet. “There’s a few things that I would love to talk about when I can soon. I’ve said since the very beginning that the dream scenario would be a limited series for Backrooms to get to the main ending.

“I can’t say anything, but there’s been a very set arc to the whole thing from the beginning, and I just feel absurdly excited at the idea of actually being able to follow through on all of it.”

The success of Parson’s Backrooms kicked off a broader, reactionary trend across the filmmaking landscape; almost instantly, studios started greenlighting similar creepypasta projects, with the likes of Siren Head, The Mandela Catalogue, and even The SCP Foundation nabbing big-budget adaptations with major directors and producers attached.

“You’re going to see more of this,” Parsons said of this trend. “It’s kind of inevitable, given the pressure cooker of people our age who have grown up with the internet. It’s cool to be at the front of that, but that’s just the constant tide of these things.”

Backrooms recently made its way to HBO Max, even getting its own special opening cinematic with HBO’s logo decked out in the Backrooms’ iconic yellow wallpaper. Naturally, its resurgence on this major streaming platform has viewers wondering what’s next for the IP, or Parsons as a filmmaker. We may have an answer to both of these questions; Parsons recently shared his visit to Valve’s offices on social media, prompting no end of speculation as to whether or not he’s in talks to adapt one of the developer’s popular games into another feature film — especially given his love for Portal.

For now, Parsons essentially has carte blanche to do as he pleases, and the wealth of possibilities is making fans even more excited for what’s next following his latest remarks about Backrooms. In the meantime, liminal space-lovers can check out 15 extra minutes of footage from his debut movie on YouTube for free, which was initially added to theatrical Backrooms screenings fittingly titled 'Everything Must Go.'

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is reportedly already planning a re-release, which will feature new footage.

Deadline has reported that Sony is preparing a new cut of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which will be released into theaters in the future. There's currently no word on when this re-release will drop, but the window for it to happen this year is rapidly shrinking as the holiday season approaches. The new cut will feature scenes that were originally removed from the film, including one with Rosario Dawson's Daredevil character, Claire Temple.

This isn't the first time Sony has done this for the webhead. In 2022, the company re-released Spider-Man: No Way Home with additional footage, including extended scenes featuring all three Spider-Men. Admittedly, it wasn't anything to write home about, and it was arguably a worse movie due to how these extra scenes disrupted its overall pacing. It added about 10 extra minutes to the original film, so it's possible something similar will happen here with Brand New Day.

Similarly, Avengers: Endgame is cleaning up at the box office seven years after its release thanks to a new re-release, which adds newly-shot footage that connects it to Avengers: Doomsday. All of these re-releases seem to be done with at least a partial goal of boosting the film's box office numbers; Brand New Day is currently the number one film at the domestic box office, and third globally. Avengers: Endgame's re-release is allowing it to quickly close the gap between it and the number one film, Avatar.

Is it a bit greedy? Probably. But people keep showing up and it's a good way of getting people to go support a movie theater, I suppose!

The directors of Avengers: Doomsday seem to be teasing that Doctor Doom is abducting different heroes from around the Marvel universe.

At the end of Avengers: Endgame Encore, a recent re-release of the 2019 film with additional footage, Bruce Banner is seen recording a video message in a bunker. He has isolated himself following the events of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but his moment of isolation is interrupted when Doctor Doom suddenly appears and seemingly kidnaps him. It's unclear exactly what Doom is planning, but it goes beyond just snatching the Incredible Hulk.

Speaking to Empire, director Joe Russo teased that Banner is just one part of Doom's larger plan.

"I mean, look, his interest may extend beyond just Banner," said Russo. "So, that's what we'll say about that."

We may already have an idea of who else Doom is targeting. During the post credits scene of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Doom can be seen in the living room of the Baxter Building, speaking with a young Franklin Richards. Although Sue Storm interrupts, it's unclear if Doom manages to abduct Franklin or if he's forced to leave without the child. A long-running theory for the film has also speculated that Doom may be kidnapping the children of various Marvel heroes, including Franklin, Thor's adopted child, and possibly the child of Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter (this one lost some credibility following the ending of Avengers: Endgame Encore, though).

Whatever the case may be, it seems like Doom wants to capture and potentially control some of Marvel's most powerful heroes. There are currently roughly two months left until the release of Doomsday, which should provide a lot of clarity on things. However, there will likely still be plenty of mysteries, as Doctor Doom will return next year in Avengers: Secret Wars.

We're headed into spooky season, and HBO Max is picking up some big horror franchises like A Nightmare on Elm Street to celebrate. The streamer will also be closing out the first season of Lanterns, the latest DC series, while premiering movies from the Warner Bros. slate as well as studios like A24 and Lionsgate. There's even a splattering of live sports.

Highlights Coming to HBO Max

A Nightmare on Elm Street Movies - October 1

It wouldn’t be an October list without some good ol' horror. Expect to see plenty of dedicated “Halloween” sections compiling all of the existing horror movies and shows on the service. One franchise HBO Max subscribers will get to marathon is A Nightmare on Elm Street, with the first five movies and the 2010 reboot coming to the service just as Freddy Krueger himself arrives in Fortnite.

Lanterns Season 1 Finale - October 4 @ 9pm ET

The latest DCU series, Lanterns, is finishing up its first season at the start of the month. We’ve been pretty big fans of the series, which loosely adapts not one but three Green Lantern arcs through a grittier, detective-style story. Plenty of questions remain as we head into the final episode, which will premiere on HBO Max in the service’s primetime slot.

What's taking over the Sunday slot through the rest of the month? Well, that honor goes to a three-part documentary series, The Pet Cemetery Murders: A Ghost Story.

Get Jiro - Premieres October 4

This new animated series adapts a graphic novel written by the late Anthony Bourdain in collaboration with Joel Rose. The stylish series follows the stoic sushi chef Jiro as he attempts to make a name for himself during an ultra violent chef gang war in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles. The trailer personally gives me ultraviolent Dave the Diver vibes.

IGN’s Jesse Schedeen got the chance to check out the premiere, calling it a “fresh and exciting” take on your standard revenge thriller. New episodes will stream on HBO Max after premiering on Adult Swim every Saturday.

Evil Dead Burn - October 5

If you’re looking for a fresh horror release to enjoy this Halloween season, the latest movie in the Evil Dead franchise will be making its streaming premiere on HBO Max. The sequel to 2023's Evil Dead Rise, which we called “most gruesome Evil Dead movie yet,” blends the franchise’s classic zombie scares with a whole new level of horror: having to stay with your in-laws.

The Invite - October 23

From the A24 side of things, Olivia Wilde’s The Invite was a sneaky box office and critical hit from earlier this summer. Unlike a massive spectacle like The Odyssey, this one contains the drama in a single San Francisco apartment, as two couples grapple with their relationships and, specifically, how much sex they’re having. It’s got some crazy uncomfortable moments as well as some peak performances, amounting to an “enjoyably nerve-racking domestic comedy-drama” in our 8/10 review.

Everything Coming to HBO Max in October

Click through links to read IGN's original reviews.

October 1

• Anatomy of a Fall
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
• A Very Harold & Kumar 3-D Christmas
• A Very Harold & Kumar 3-D Christmas, A: Extra Dope Edition
• Born on the Fourth of July
• Coraline
• Double Wedding
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat
• Final Destination 3
• Freaks
• Freddy vs. Jason
• Friday the 13th
• From Hell It Came
• Ghost Adventures, Season 31 (Discovery)
• House Of Wax
• House On Haunted Hill (1959)
• I'll See You In My Dreams
• Indestructible Man
• Isle of the Dead
• It Happened in Brooklyn
• Krypto Saves the Day, Season 2B (DC)
• Kubo and the Two Strings
• Little Shop of Horrors
• Love Crazy
• Macabre
• Masterminds
• Objective, Burma!
• Ocean's 11 (1960)
• Ocean's Eleven (2001)
• Ocean's Thirteen
• Ocean's Twelve
• ParaNorman
• Poltergeist
• Roadkill Garage, Season 10
• Scooby-Doo
• Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
• Screaming Eagles
• Shadow of the Thin Man
• Song of the Thin Man
• Space Jam
• Space Jam: A New Legacy
• Teen Titans Go! See Space Jam
• The Black Scorpion
• The Boxtrolls
• The Cyclops
• The Departed
• The Exorcist
• The Hangover Part II
• The Internship
• The Leopard Man
• The Mummy (1959)
• The Mystery of the Wax Museum
• The Post
• The Return of Doctor X
• The Royal Tenenbaums
• The Seventh Victim
• The Shining
• The Thin Man Goes Home
• The Walking Dead
• Thirteen Women
• Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
• Trick 'r Treat
• Trouble Along the Way
• War, Season 1 (HBO/Sky Original Series)
• Wife vs. Secretary

October 2

• Batwheels, Season 3
• Maine Cabin Masters, Season 13 (Magnolia Network)
• Strange: Junji Ito’s Tales for Sleepless Nights, Season 1
• The Torment, Season 1 (HBO Original Series)
• NY Rangers vs Detroit, 6:30 p.m. (NHL)
• St Louis vs Dallas, 9:30 p.m. (NHL)

October 3

• Impractical Jokers, Season 13A (truTV)
• Gold Rush, Season 17 (Discovery)
• ALDS Game 1s (MLB)
• Las Vegas P&Q 4:30 p.m. (Nascar)
• Mexico vs USMNT, 10 p.m. (U.S. Soccer)
• AEW Collision, 8 p.m. (AEW)

October 4

• Be My Guest with Ina Garten, Season 8 (Food Network)
• Get Jiro, Season 1 (Adult Swim)

October 5

• Evil Dead Burn
• 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way, Season 8 (TLC)
• Sister Wives, Season 21 (TLC)
• ALDS Game 2s (MLB)

October 6

• 90 Day: Hunt for Love, Season 2 (TLC)
• Crazy Rich Asians
• Sweet Deceit, Season 1 (Food Network)
• “Nepal’s Deadly Floods” with Anderson Cooper, The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper (CNN Original)
• USMNT vs Canada, 8 p.m. (U.S. Soccer)
• AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam France, 8 p.m. (AEW)

October 7

• The Serial Killer Connection (ID)
• ALDS Game 3s (MLB)
• Pittsburgh vs Washington, 7:30 p.m. (NHL)

October 8

• Sin City Rehab, Season 2 (HGTV)
• Top of the World (CNN Films)
• ALDS Game 4s (MLB)

October 9

• House Hunters International: Volume 10, Season 217 (HGTV)
• Rage, Season 2 (HBO Original Series)
• The Housemaid (Lionsgate)

October 10

• OWN Spotlight: Mothers & Daughters: Torn Apart with Iyanla Vanzant (OWN)
• ALDS Game 5s (MLB)
• Charlotte P&Q 1 p.m. (Nascar)
• Spain vs USWNT, 2:30 p.m. (U.S. Soccer)
• AEW Collision, 8 p.m. (AEW)

October 11

• Regular Show: The Lost Tapes, Season 1B (Cartoon Network)
• Renovation Island: The Adventure Continues, Season 1 (HGTV)
• The Pet Cemetery Murders: A Ghost Story (HBO Original Series)

October 12

• ALCS Game 1 (MLB)

October 13

• 120 Hours Behind Bars, Season 2 (Discovery)
• ALCS Game 2 (MLB)
• Spain vs USWNT, 7 p.m. (U.S. Soccer)

October 14

• High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam (TNT)
• Dallas vs Colorado, 8:30 p.m. (NHL)
• AEW Dynamite, 8 p.m.
• AEW Collision, 10 p.m.
• AEW Countdown: WrestleDream 2026, 11 p.m.

October 15

• Corregidora: The Darkest Night in Mexican Soccer (HBO Original Series)
• Untold Stories of the ER, Season 14 (TLC)
• ALCS Game 3 (MLB)

October 16

• Kate Berlant: Parmesan (HBO Original)
• The Death of Robin Hood (A24)
• ALCS Game 4 (MLB)
• AEW Dynasty 2026

October 17

• The Amateur
• OWN Spotlight: What Black Men Say vs. What Black Women Hear with Iyanla Vanzant (OWN)
• ALCS Game 5 (MLB)
• Phoenix, P&Q 1 p.m. (Nascar)
• AEW Collision: WrestleDream Tailgate Brawl, 7 p.m.
• AEW WrestleDream, 8 p.m.

October 19

• ALCS Game 6 (MLB)

October 20

• Anyone But You
• ALCS Game 7 (MLB)

October 21

• Philadelphia vs Buffalo, 7:30 p.m. (NHL)
• AEW Dynamite, 8 p.m.

October 22

• The Flores Massacre (HBO Original Series)

October 23

• House Hunters: Volume 11, Season 263 (HGTV)
• The Invite (A24)

October 24

• Talladega Superspeedway, Qualifying 1 p.m. (Nascar)
• AEW Collision, 8 p.m.

October 25

• Montreal vs Winnipeg, 7 p.m. (NHL)

October 27

• Kordell Stewart: Slash & Burn (HBO Original)
• “30 Days Inside: Hospitals and the Immigrant Workforce” with Ed Lavandera, The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper (CNN Original)

October 28

• Philadelphia vs Washington, 7:30 p.m. (NHL)
• AEW Dynamite: Fright Night Dynamite, 8 p.m.

October 29

• Cannibal Poet (HBO Original Series)

October 30

• AEW Dynamite, Collision & Rampage from May & June 2024

October 31

• Martinsville, Practice 1 p.m. (Nascar)
• AEW Collision: Fright Night Collision, 8 p.m.

What’s Up With HBO Max?

ICYMI: Warner Bros put itself up for sale next year, and after a little bit of a battle with Netflix, Paramount came out as the buyer. The deal was briefly put on pause due to antitrust lawsuits, though Paramount has since reached an agreement, putting the deal back in motion.

Avengers: Doomsday directors Joe and Anthony Russo joked that Doctor Doom's introduction was "planned all along" after new Avengers: Endgame Encore scenes teased his impending arrival.

The filmmaking duo behind this year's Marvel Studios reunion movie touched on how one of the few new teasers attached to Endgame's re-release ties into the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) during an interview with Empire. The moment in question is more of a collection of images than it is a proper scene, but that doesn't mean the Russo brothers didn't use it to draw connections between Iron Man and Doctor Doom actor Robert Downey Jr.

Warning! Avengers: Endgame Encore spoilers follow.

Those who saw Endgame Encore this past weekend and stuck through the end of its credits sequence were treated to the familiar sound of Tony Stark hammering away on his first Iron Man suit – or at least, that's what we thought it was in 2019. This time, however, viewers were shown shots of what seemed to be Victor von Doom as he molds his own mask.

It gave new meaning to Endgame's original final moment as Doomsday looms. When asked to elaborate, Joe Russo said with a laugh that "it's been planned all along." Considering Marvel announced it would rework and retitle The Kang Dynasty into Doomsday back in 2024, it's safe to say that comment is a joke.

"It's almost like the same actor is playing both characters!" Anthony Russo added with a laugh.

Its connections to the MCU's first true superhero, however, are very real. Fans have wondered how the directors will connect Downey Jr.'s two characters since his role was announced, but for all we know, the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men featured in Doomsday may not even get to see the man behind the metal mask. While we're still months from seeing how it will all unfold, the Russo brothers have acknowledged their Endgame Encore tease is more than an ominous flash from the future.

"There is certainly a symmetry at play here," Joe Russo said. "There is an interesting examination of good and evil at play. And I think that that scene at the end, obviously it's intended to be almost identical. It's because there's a duality being explored."

Avengers: Endgame Encore helped fans prep for Doctor Doom when it premiered in theaters last week. Although viewers had to see it on IMAX and Infinity Vision screens to catch all of the Easter Eggs, we can at least rest easy knowing all questions will be answered when Avengers: Doomsday premieres December 18, 2026. In the meantime, you can read about what the Marvel directors had to say about shooting with an unfinished script.

Avengers: Endgame and Doomsday directors Joe and Anthony Russo wanted to show Steve Rogers' journey to replace the Infinity Stones "for a long time."

Rogers agrees to return the Infinity Stones to their places across the MCU timeline in the finale of Avengers: Endgame, before settling back in time to live out a happy life with Peggy Carter. (A life that will now be interrupted by the events of Avengers: Doomsday, it has been confirmed.)

While this journey hasn't yet been shown on screen, fans have long called for a Disney+ series featuring Chris Evans as he adventures across the Marvel timeline, dropping off various stones back where the Avengers found them. There's some fertile ground for exploration here too, as Evans could reunite with younger versions of his former team as well as former foes. It would be great to see Rogers bid a final goodbye to Black Widow before her later death, or face off once again with Red Skull.

Clearly, the Russos also thought similar. Speaking to CBR, Joe Russo said that he and his brother Anthony Russo "did have that conversation," around showing Rogers' journey, before suggesting it would have been too difficult to show within a single film just as a montage.

"I think we toyed around with an idea of like, 'Is there a montage where he puts the stones back?' We felt like it just played past the ending," he explained. "We were like, 'It seems like much more complicated than a montage could sustain.' And so we didn't do it."

"We did circle it for a long time, that idea," Anthony Russo added, before seemingly discounting the idea of a Disney+ series. "I think that's a great idea," he continued. "How about a movie?"

This discussion is interesting as it appears to dovetail with comments made in the past by Evans himself, who said he had received numerous pitches to return to the MCU that he ultimately did not move forward with, as he waited for an idea big enough that justified going back.

While Marvel rarely discusses its discarded project ideas, it's not difficult to imagine a movie showing Steve's journey being pitched to Evans at some point. However, at present, there's no sign that this is a journey we'll ever actually get to see, as the Russos are busy enough still tinkering with Avengers: Doomsday, and entering pre-production on Avengers Secret Wars.

As for Doomsday, we know that it will pick up Steve's story after his Infinity Stone mission, as his life with Peggy Carter is disturbed by a visit from Loki. This is a moment that viewers have now seen play out in the extended version of Avengers: Endgame now playing in theaters. Exactly what happens after that, however, we'll need to wait a few months to see — when Avengers: Doomsday arrives December 18.

Avengers: Endgame Encore viewers have issued a warning to fans after realizing Disney locked a major new scene behind IMAX and Infinity Vision theaters.

The re-release of Marvel Studios' Infinity Saga conclusion made a splash in theaters in its opening weekend as moviegoers flocked to relive memorable hype moments and catch a glimpse of a few new Avengers: Doomsday teases. The new scenes, of which there are four in total, are arguably the biggest selling point of Avengers: Endgame Encore, so when some fans left the theater having only seen three, they were less than pleased.

"I just got back from a regular showing of Endgame Encore (2D screening) and I’m really frustrated that I didn’t get to see all the new footage," Reddit user Tyler_the_hourman said in a popular post they authored after they left the theater. "It was completely unknown to me (and the others in my showing) that we wouldn’t get the full cut with all the new footage.

This same fan admitted some may feel they got what they "paid for," but they say it "still feels so scummy." They clarified that they, like many others, tend to avoid social media ahead of new Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) releases so as to avoid any major spoilers. Avengers: Endgame Encore, despite being a spruced-up re-release, was no different, so they didn't learn about Disney's scene exclusivity strategy until it was too late.

The House of Mouse announced plans to lock new Doomsday teases behind IMAX and Infinity Vision screenings in late August. It was a relatively quiet announcement that, based on reactions online, didn't make it around to quite as many viewers as you might expect. There's also the fact that the reveal only promised that these exclusive scenes feature "an additional sneak peek," so no one truly knew what to expect until they walked into theaters September 25.

Warning! Avengers: Endgame Encore spoilers follow.

We now know that the four bonus sequences, which run for a combined total of around four minutes, feature an extended ending for Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter, a meeting between Bruce Banner and Doctor Doom, a fiasco at the TVA, and a few frames of what seems to show the forging of Victor von Doom's mask. It's the TVA scene, which looks like it may have been ripped straight out of Doomsday itself and features more than a few surprise cameos, that was left out of standard screenings.

Assemble respectfully.

Silence your phones when you see Avengers: Doomsday, in theaters December 18. Get tickets now: https://t.co/HReh5UfF1M pic.twitter.com/550mzSqS5w

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) September 28, 2026

Loki series regulars like Mobius (Owen Wilson) and OB (Ke Huy Quan) show up for the extended look, which shows that not all is well with the Time Variance Authority as the multiverse begins to cave in on itself. It's maybe the longest scene of the four shown with Avengers: Endgame Encore, and it lives up to director Joe Russo's teasing. So, as fans are confused and frustrated to learn they missed out on one of the biggest Doomsday teases simply because they either don't live near a theater supporting IMAX or Infinity Vision screens or because they weren't willing to fork over the extra cash required for often pricier formats.

"It's a pretty scummy way Disney did this," one fan said. "Can't believe some people are actually defending this strategy of theirs."

"That's weird I thought the point of the rerelease was to add the new scenes," another said.

"Cash grab" is a frequent phrase shared by MCU fans who are aware Disney kept certain scenes locked to premium theaters. Others are only just learning of the move now, as moviegoers leave their local theater and take to social media to express their frustration.

"I didn’t realize it until this post. IMAX Encore had even more footage than what I saw?" one Marvel fan said. "Interesting that they would partner with IMAX when all the IMAX theaters for Doomsday are taken by Dune."

"I literally just got back from seeing The Odyssey in IMAX and the trailer they screened for Endgame Encore said nothing about new footage being exclusive to IMAX," another Reddit user said.

"This is a shameless Disney cash grab," another reply added. "I'm not blowing all that money and driving out of my way to a Disney-owned theater just to go see five minutes of added footage. I'm sorry you got screwed."

Consider this story your PSA: If you want to see every new tease for Doomsday, you'll want to head to an IMAX theater when watching Avengers: Endgame Encore. It's currently unclear how long the re-release will stick around in theaters, but considering it made an impressive $86 million at the box office during its opening weekend, expect to see it hang around for at least a little while longer.

Avengers: Doomsday will follow up on all of the teases when its premiere marks the beginning of the end of the Multiverse Saga December 18, 2026. For more, you can read about how Anthony Mackie learned he'd be picking up Captain America's shield. You can also check out IGN's original 9.5/10 Avengers: Endgame review.

Set photos have revealed Rachel Weisz reprising her role as Evelyn O'Connell in the upcoming The Mummy movie.

As reported by the Daily Mail, the 56-year-old actress was spotted in costume as librarian, Egyptologist, and action heroine Evelyn O'Connell in London. Specifically, the scenes were filmed outside the British Museum, and will reportedly appear early in the movie.

Weisz stars in the new The Mummy alongside Brendan Fraser nearly 20 years after the last The Mummy movie, 2008’s Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, came out. Weisz didn't appear in that divisive third entry (Maria Bello played the character instead). In March, director duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett suggested Tomb of the Dragon isn't considered canon.

Last year, Fraser, who plays Rick O'Connell, pointed to the power of stunt men ahead of filming. The 57-year-old sustained multiple injuries during the filming of The Mummy movies, including a torn spinal disc and a cracked rib, which led to numerous surgeries over several years. These injuries and surgeries took a significant toll on his health, and played a part in the actor taking a long break from his career.

Meanwhile, John Hannah will reprise his role as Jonathan Carnahan, the unscrupulous brother of Evelyn O'Connell. Hannah appeared in the first three Mummy movies. Elsewhere, Oded Fehr returns as Ardeth Bay.

Reaction to the set photos has been extremely positive, with fans praising Weisz's period-appropriate attire. The Mummy is set in 1926, The Mummy Returns in 1933, and Tomb of the Dragon Emperor in 1946. It's unclear when exactly The Mummy 4 is set, but it looks like it will be 1950s post-war London. In one of the set photos, Weisz holds what looks like a transistor radio, which were introduced in the mid-to-late '50s.

There’s still much we don’t know about The Mummy 4 — even its final title is unannounced. Last November, Fraser told the Associated Press he’d been waiting 20 years for the call to make another The Mummy, adding: “It’s time to give the fans what they want.”

The Mummy 4 hits theaters October 15, 2027.

Photo by Keith Hamshere/Universal Studios.

Anthony Mackie said Chris Evans told him how he'd become Captain America by showing him the Avengers: Endgame script early.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) mainstay and former Falcon actor recalled finding out how Sam Wilson would take over the mantle as part of a conversation with Cigar Aficionado (via Variety). Instead of a behind-the-scenes celebration or public reveal, Mackie said he learned the details about his new role as the next Captain America during a private moment he and Evans shared during the early days of working on Avengers: Endgame.

"Chris Evans is somebody who I hold near and dear," he said. "We're at Chris' house, and because he's Captain America, he gets the [script] pages first. So he’s like, 'Yo, did you read the new scene?' I'm like, 'Nah, what's up?' So, he takes me down…and he gave me the script and let me read it.

"And it was really great and really emotional to learn it from a friend…I don’t know a lot of actors who would have appreciated or celebrated that moment with a fellow actor in that way because I was taking his job for all intents and purposes."

The end of Evans' time as Captain America marked the conclusion of an eight-year arc that saw his Steve Rogers appear in three standalone films, multiple team-up movies, a few fun cameos, and more. He quickly cemented himself as the most recognizable incarnation of the character and delivered fan-favorite stories that are still celebrated as some of the best the MCU has to offer today.

To say Evans stepping away as Captain America represented a gargantuan shift for the MCU is an understatement. Mackie adopted the role in the closing moments of Avengers: Endgame in a scene that saw an aged Steve Rogers handing over his iconic shield, but the actor says his friendship with Evans meant he knew how he'd fill the role long before the rest of the world – and, it seems, much of the cast and crew.

Mackie went on to play the Sam Wilson version of Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney+ show. His first standalone outing as the Marvel superhero was last year's Captain America: Brave New World.

Audiences will see him – and even Evans' Steve Rogers – return to the MCU when Avengers: Doomsday premieres December 18, 2026. MCU fans who hit theaters to see Avengers: Endgame Encore this past weekend got a sneak peek at what's in store thanks to a small collection of new scenes.

Avengers: Endgame Encore dusted off an estimated $86 million at the box office as new scenes helped bring Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fans back to theaters to prep for Doomsday.

It's a gargantuan opening weekend for Disney and Marvel's Infinity Saga-ending re-release that saw it rank atop global charts. Of its $86 million debut, it earned $26 million domestically and $60 million internationally.

For those unaware of why Avengers: Endgame is back in theaters, there are a few reasons audiences have shown up in droves to watch the seven-year-old MCU movie. First and foremost, the Encore re-release comes with a few minutes of extra footage that ties directly into this December's superhero crossover event film, Avengers: Doomsday. With director Joe Russo previously setting up the new clips as "critical" to the next movie's plot, it seemed inevitable that at least die-hard fans would show up.

There's been plenty of debate about whether those new precious minutes of MCU footage could justify the price of another ticket, but with another $86 million in the bank, it seems there were plenty who thought it was enough. It helped that, outside of one scene, most of Avengers: Endgame Encore keeps the original story intact, giving moviegoers a chance to relive all of the hype moments and big reveals before Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and more return to the MCU later this year.

As Avengers: Endgame Encore brings the end of Thanos' mission to conquer the universe with the Infinity Stones back to theaters, it also sees the return of one of the biggest theatrical releases of all time. The Avengers movie shattered records upon its release in 2019 and eventually returned later that same year for its first re-release. Many of its notable feats have held up in the seven years since, with only Tom Holland's Spider-Man: Brand New Day able to topple some of them last month.

Through it all, Avengers: Endgame has now soared to an unbelievable $2.885 billion worldwide total. Disney has marked it as the second-highest debut for a re-release ever, falling only behind 2012's Titanic 3D.

While Marvel and Disney take what feels like an endless run of victory laps, Zach Cregger's Resident Evil proved it has some staying power after its second weekend in theaters. It brought in another $23 million domestically and $27 million internationally for a worldwide, with its two-weekend total sitting at $196.5 million on a reported $75 million budget. Despite facing an uphill battle with some fans, the Capcom video game-turned-horror-movie quickly became the highest-rated game adaptation of all time.

Also opening at the box office this weekend was the Brad Pitt-led and doggy-driven survival flick, Heart of the Beast, which brought $50.1 million globally and fetched an 8/10 review from IGN. Director Lance Oppenheim and star Robert Pattinson's Primetime, a big biopic based on Chris Hansen's To Catch a Predator that IGN awarded a 9/10, earned $20.06 million globally, with the vast majority of that ($19.2 million) brought in domestically.

The top five films for the global box office from this past weekend saw Avengers: Endgame Encore take first, Resident Evil take second, and Heart of the Beast take third. Primetime and Forgotten Island rounded out the list in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Avengers: Endgame Encore is mostly the same movie we saw in 2019, but that doesn't mean it hasn't spawned plenty to talk about as Doomsday approaches. One topic on fans' minds involves a new star-studded, pre-movie opener that asks fans to silence their phones.

Director Curry Barker said Netflix bid to put Obsession straight to streaming before Focus Features helped it become the biggest box office success story of 2026.

The comedian-turned-horror-filmmaker talked about the early days of his record-breaking low-budget flick during a conversation on Q with Tom Power. We all know how Obsession turned out, but Barker said offers for the project nearly kept it out of theaters for a very different life as a streaming exclusive.

Barker said an early screening almost immediately resulted in "everybody" putting in offers to distribute Obsession. Neon, Focus, A24, and more wanted to bring Barker's twisted monkey's paw tale under their banner. Focus eventually won the war, but not before Netflix offered to throw a wrench into things.

"All of these companies are wanting to do your movie," Barker recalled hearing from his manager. "At this time, I'm still thinking maybe small theatrical release. Maybe they just want to acquire it, and also, as a director, I'm thinking, I'm scared of, 'Are they going to want to change my movie? Are they going to want to take out certain parts that I like?'

"So many questions were being thrown around. I think Netflix was in the conversation at one point. They put in an offer to just put it straight on Netflix. All of these conversations started."

With the odd exception, Netflix has infamously strayed from theatrical releases in the past. Before Paramount swooped in to acquire Warner Bros., the streaming giant was reportedly only interested in keeping its new slate of films in theaters for a little more than two weeks. Its movie boss, Dan Lin, said in June that the company "just won't work with" filmmakers who push to bring their films to theaters.

All signs point to a streaming-exclusive release for Obsession should Barker have signed with Netflix – but we all know that's not what happened. Instead, audiences spent months swarming movie theaters to see how stars Inde Navarrette, Michael Johnston, Cooper Tomlinson, and Megan Lawless helped bring the director's vision to life. It brought home massive early returns at the box office on its notably low $750,000 budget and then continued to surprise before reaching an unbelievable global total of $519.4 million (via Box Office Mojo).

It was an unprecedented run that almost didn't happen if Netflix had proved victorious. There's no telling if Obsession would have had the same impact if it remained available to stream from the start, but Barker and company are probably happy enough with how things turned out. Although he and Tomlinson are still working on getting their next feature, Anything But Ghosts, ready for release, the director does have some ideas for a sequel in mind, even if it will be a while before Obsession 2 gets off the ground.

For more, you can read what Barker had to say about Gen Z's opinions on "slop" in movies. You can also check out how Universal brought Navarrette's Nikki to Halloween Horror Nights and then see IGN's top-reviewed horror movies of the year. Obsession, for example, earned an 8/10.

Director Fede Álvarez has confirmed Don't Breathe 3 is in the works, with some of the cast from previous films expected to reprise their roles.

The filmmaker behind some of the grislier horror movies of the last 15 years announced his intentions to finish his thriller trilogy with a proper third film at Beyond Fest 2026, as reported by Dread Central. Whether or not Álvarez will return as director is unclear, but it is said that he has at least returned to handle its script.

How the third Don't Breathe movie will materialize and what story it will tell remains unclear. However, it sounds like it will at least continue where the previous two films left off, with both Stephen Lang (Avatar) and Jane Levy (Evil Dead) expected to reprise their roles as The Blind Man a.k.a. Norman Nordstrom and Rocky, respectively.

Álvarez and Levy previously worked together on his 2013 Evil Dead reboot before re-teaming for the original Don't Breathe in 2016. The horror-thriller, which was also produced by scary movie visionary Sam Raimi, follows three thieves who break into a house before finding themselves fighting for their lives in a "lethal game of cat and mouse."

Don't Breathe 2 continued the story with Lang back as The Blind Man in 2021. The sequel saw Álvarez hand directing duties to frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues, with Raimi also returning as producer. In the five years since its premiere, there have been few updates about how the crew might round out the trilogy with a Don't Breathe 3 despite Lang teasing a new movie through the years.

After diverting his attention to direct Alien: Romulus in 2024, Álvarez seems more ready than ever to round out the story. How far along he is in that process is unclear, though, so we'll have to wait to learn more about its release date or who else may be attached.

Álvarez has also reportedly been in the mix to produce an Alien: Romulus sequel, but its status is unclear. As the filmmaker continues to try to expand upon the Don't Breathe universe, you can read IGN's 8.8/10 review of the first film and our 5/10 review of the second.

Disney has reportedly picked Spider-Man director Jon Watts to helm the first movie in Simon Kinberg's new Star Wars trilogy as it plots out the next chapter in the Skywalker Saga.

Information about a new series of Star Wars projects from Lucasfilm was first reported by Daniel Richtman and later corroborated by The Hollywood Reporter. Although Watts is best known for leading the charge on the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Tom Holland Spider-Man trilogy, his work on Star Wars would represent his return to the sci-fi franchise following his time as co-creator on 2024's Skeleton Crew.

The yet-to-be-named new films, which are said to be the next chapter in the Skywalker Saga, are being written by Star Wars: Rebels and Mr. and Mrs. Smith veteran Kinberg. Story details remain mostly shrouded in mystery, though it's said that Daisy Ridley's sequel trilogy Jedi, Rey Skywalker, will play a role in the story.

Watts has only been picked to direct the first movie of the new trilogy so far. When this next chapter will begin is also unclear, with The Hollywood Reporter sources noting that Disney has not given the new project the official green light as work on its foundation continues.

Although still early in development, the site stated that it is further along than most other Star Wars projects. The only one ahead of it for now is Shawn Levy and Ryan Gosling's Star Wars: Starfighter, which has a May 28, 2027, release date.

Watts broke onto the blockbuster scene with the MCU's Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017 and returned to make more superhero movies with follow-ups Far from Home and No Way Home in 2019 and 2021, respectively. He then handed over work on future Holland films to Destin Daniel Cretton, with his last feature, Wolfs, premiering in 2024.

Kinberg was first said to be in the mix to write a new Star Wars trilogy back in 2024, but there was conflicting information at the time. While some reported the next run of mainline films would continue the Skywalker Saga, others stated that the new projects would tell a completely new story. The Hollywood Reporter's story today suggested that Kinberg has settled on the former, though with the project so early in development, it's always possible that could change.

Former Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy offered an update on Kinberg's status when speaking to Deadline earlier this year. Although it seemingly ran into a few speed bumps along the way, today's update suggests the trilogy may be in the process of finding its footing and, hopefully, a path toward a full green light.

"[Kinberg] wrote something that we read in August, and it was very good, but not there," she said in January. "We've pretty much upended the story, and then spent a great deal of time on the treatment, which he finished literally about four weeks ago. And it's a very detailed treatment, like 70 pages. And so he is expected to give us something in March."

Talk to most Star Wars fans and they'll tell you the same thing: The franchise is not in the best shape at the moment – at least when it comes to its movies. The Skywalker Saga concluded a massive nine-film arc with its sequel trilogy ender, Episode 9 – The Rise of Skywalker, in 2019, but the project capped the story with more of a whimper than a bang.

Although the Ridley-led films each came with their own controversial moments, The Rise of Skywalker emerged with disappointing critical reception (IGN gave it a 7/10) rivaled only by 1999's Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace. Disney pumped the breaks when it came to theatrical releases for a galaxy far, far away after that, with this year's The Mandalorian and Grogu bringing an end to a seven-year drought without new Star Wars movies. Even that project found its own trials to overcome, with so-so critical reception (IGN's review delivered a 5/10) and underwhelming box office returns leading Disney to deem it a disappointment in theaters.

It's not all been doom and gloom for Star Wars, though. While the movies have, for many, struggled to recapture the magic of George Lucas' original vision, some of its TV outings have managed to keep audiences coming back for more. Seasons 1 and 2 of Disney's Rogue One prequel, Andor, earned the franchise critical acclaim. Meanwhile, although not everyone was sold on 2024's The Acolyte, shows like Maul – Shadow Lord and Skeleton Crew did manage to find dedicated audiences.

Star Wars is going through some growing pains as leadership shifts behind the scenes, but Disney has made it clear it still has plenty of stories to tell. There are plenty of other movies and shows in various forms of development, including Maul – Shadow Lord Season 2 and Ahsoka Season 2, which are both expected to premiere next year. While fans are still campaigning to see Adam Driver reprise his role as Kylo Ren in the canceled Hunt for Ben Solo film, Lucasfilm head Dave Filoni has signaled a bright future ahead when it comes to Star Wars movies.

Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images.